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Dear MRC Family,

Epiphany blessings to you

To say this week has been emotionally challenging in our country would be an understatement. I have found myself doing a lot of sighing, staring into space, and wondering, wondering, wondering how I will continue to get up in the pulpit and preach hope and love — for I know this is what I’m called to do — with the constant uncertainty and venom that keeps coming at us on a daily basis. I have found myself crying out to God to show up and do something earth-shattering spectacular. 

The other day as I was sighing and scrolling through Facebook I came across a post from my dear friend Marilyn Paarlberg. It was a poem written by Audette Fulbright Fulson called “A Prayer for the Morning” —

Did you rise this morning,
broken and hungover
with weariness and pain
and rage tattered from waving too long in a brutal wind?
Get up, child.
Pull your bones upright
gather your skin and muscle into a patch of sun.
Draw breath deep into your lungs;
you will need it
for another day calls to you.
I know you ache.
I know you wish the work were done
and you
with everyone you have ever loved
were on a distant shore
safe, and unafraid.
But remember this,
tired as you are:
you are not alone.
Here
and here
and here also
there are others weeping
and rising
and gathering their courage.
You belong to them
and they to you
and together,
we will breakthrough
and bend the arc of justice
all the way down
into our lives.

Get up

Sun, breath

We are not alone

We belong to each other

But most importantly, we belong to God — body and soul

And what better way to claim our belonging than to come to the water and remember our baptism? And that is what we will do this Sunday, not alone but together, rising and gathering courage. So come and remember, “That we are a people formed in water and Spirit. Remember that Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan, not because he needed to be cleansed, but to show us what it means to be fully human—to say yes to God, yes to belovedness, yes to the work of gentle justice” (From Worship Ways).

Tom will be leading us in our hymns and will sing the Prelude “God Is With Us” and the Anthem “Jesus You Are.” I am preaching from John 2.1-11 — the wedding at Cana where Jesus performs his first sign/miracle by turning water into wine — and my sermon title is No Ordinary Water. Also, we will receive our Deacons’ offering to help those in need in our church and community. If you are unable to be in person for worship, we will be streaming live on our YouTube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@mrcafabulouschurchoflove1611. 

Yes, this has been a challenging week, but I take heart knowing that through the work of the Spirit, we are a miracle, too. We are ordinary water that is transformed into extraordinary wine. We have the opportunity to be God’s miracles in these particular times of  . . .  I’m not sure how to describe them. Perhaps when we let go of looking and waiting for that earth-shattering spectacular God, and recognize that the everyday, grace-filled God is here right now with us — Emmanuel — we may see and feel more of the Holy appearing in our lives. We may see that Jesus is appearing in us, even when we don’t know it. I mean, look what Jesus can do with water. What more can he do with us? A lot. And to be honest, Jesus needs us a lot right now.

So keep following and bothering Jesus, beloved

 

With gratitude for the privilege of being your pastor and the holy call of loving you,

 

Pastor Trish

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